Our Great Adventure: Otavalo Day 302 17/07/2015

Our plan for the next few days was to head north from Quito and cross the border into Colombia via the Pan America highway. The route passes Otavalo where we'd decided to stop for a couple of nights. Famed for it's Saturday market we thought it would be a shame just to travel past given tomorrow is Saturday, although we did visit when we came to Ecuador just over 10 years ago. After breakfast we had the task of repacking our bags and then got a taxi to the northern bus terminal. It took nearly an hour to get there and cost $10. The bus to Otavalo cost $5.40 for both of us for a 2 hour journey! We bought our tickets, got on the bus and set off within 10 minutes. The route heads north passing nearby the snow capped Volcan Cayambe which lies on the equator. We'd attempted to climb this when we were here previously but were thwarted by the weather, ridiculous winds and extreme cold temperatures. The road conditions were much better than we remembered and it looked like the road was either new or certainly upgraded which may have been part of the infrastructure for the new airport which opened last year. We had planned to travel with San Cristobel but realised when we got the ticket out we were on San Gabriel. Not that it really mattered other than the bus dropped us off just outside the town. We'd just passed San Pablo lake and were commenting that we didn't remember it when the bus stopped and the driver's mate told us it was our stop. We didn't believe him at first but he was adamant that we were at Otavalo. Simon was quite disappointed as it meant that he missed the end of 'Taken 3' which was being shown on the bus. Luckily we were able to flag a taxi and paid $1 for the short ride into the town centre. Clearly we need to pay a bit more attention in future! We checked in at Hostal Dona Esther just off the Plaza Bolivar and dropped off our bags before heading out to find somewhere for lunch. We both remember going to a terrace cafe at Plaza de los Ponchos where the artesian market is held and walked there in the hope of finding it. Given Otavalo is nothing like Diane remembered it being (a lovely colonial town) and we were here a long time ago it probably wasn't surprising that we didn't find the cafe. Instead we went to what looked like a new coffee shop also on the plaza. After lunch we walked the short distance to the bus station (where we would have arrived if we'd travelled with San Cristobel) to find out about getting a bus to the Colombian border. It looks like we have to go to Ibarra, change there for Tulcan, get a taxi to the border, cross by foot and get a taxi to Ipiacas the nearest town on the Colombian side. From there we need to get a bus for the 2 hour journey to our destination, Pasto. Hopefully it will all go to plan! On the way back to the hostel we had a look around the artesian market. Some of the crafts are lovely. If only we had the space in our bags! We stopped for a coffee boost and then walked back having a look in the church on Plaza Bolivar on the way. We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on emails and admin. Di's Dad has come to the rescue on the contact lens solution front and a package containing enough solution to last until the end of our travels is on it's way to Bogota for us to collect when we get there. In the evening we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant that overlooks Plaza de los Ponchos. It was nice to have something different for a change and certainly more tasty than our last meal in Quito.